John Trapp on Habakkuk 2:13

Verſe 13. Behold is it not of the Lord of hoſts, that the people ſhall labour in the fire] Labour in vaine to quench the fire, wherewith Babylon ſhall be burnt, Jer. 51.58. Or have laboured to no purpoſe in building that city, and enlarging that Empire, which now God will have down. Is it not evident, that they have loſt oleum & operam, yea hazarded their own lives, as thoſe do that ſt[illegible: 1 letter]ive againſt a flame. What profit hath he that laboureth for the wind Eccleſ. 5.16. much leſſe he that laboureth in the fire, that devouring element. See Eſay 33.14. Poſſibly he may beſaved himſelf, yet ſo as by fire, but his work ſhall be burnt, that loſſe he ſhall ſuffer 1 Cor. 3.15. As they that ſeek after the Philoſophers ſtone labour in the very fire to as little purpoſe as may be: for they muſt uſe ſo much gold, and ſpend ſo much gold, and then perhaps they can turn as much into gold by it, as they have ſpent in making of it. Hence One calles Alchymy A multiplying of ſomething by nothing; Another, an Omne, Aliquid, Nihil. Another an art without art, never taught by Moſes and Miriam, as ſome have doted, and delivered, that this was a peece of their Egyptian learning. But it is certain that thoſe holy ſoules never either learned or taught any ſuch laborious loſſe of time and money. Demetrius Phalereus complaineth of theſe Alchymiſts long agone not without indignation quod certis conſumptis incertorum gratiâ, Athenaeus quae ſe capturos ſperabant, non ceperunt, quod verò habebant abjecerint, that they caſt away certainties for uncertainties, that they attained not what they hoped for, but caſt away what they had. Julius Scaliger alſo Fornaculas iſt as odi, Ad Cardan. exerc. 83. p. 100. ſaith He, odio plus quam Vatiniano. Sunt enim noctuae ad aucupia crumenarum. I cannot abide thoſe fornaces: indeed they are pick-purſes &c. know there is a true Alchymy called by ſome the Spagirick art, being in great uſe in phyſick. This I condemne not, ſo it be warily and wiſely dealt in. But this by the way only. It ſeemed to ſome an impoſſible thing that Babylon ſhould ſo ſuddenly be deſtroyed as was foretold verſe. 7. It will be done certò, citò, penitùs, ſuddenly, ſurely, ſeverely, ſaith the Prophet, for the Lord of Hoſts hath undertaken the doing of it. Annon ecce à Domino exercituum? (ſo the Hebrew hath it by an emphaticall Apoſiopeſis) Is it not, (look you) of the Lord of Hoſts? The people ſhall labour in the very fire,

the nations alſo ſhall weary themſelves for very vanity] Viz. in ſeeking to ſave Babylon, which by a divine decree is to be deſtroyed without remedy, Pſa. 137.8. So is Rome that other Babylon Rev. 18.2. citò itidem caſura, De rem. ut. fort. dial. 118. ſi vos eſſetis viri, ſaid Petrarch long ſince. It would ſoon be down, would you but ſtand up as men. Neither ſhall the Jeſuites (that ultimus diaboli crepitus) be able to uphold it: there is a cold ſweat upon all the limbes of Antichriſt already.