Here Abel is brought out into the field by his brother, to be slain by him. Here Isaac comes forth with the wood, and Abraham with the ram caught in the thicket. Here also Joseph with the sheaf of which he dreamed, and the long robe steeped in blood. Here is Moses with the rod, and the serpent hanging on the wood. Here is the cluster of grapes, carried on a staff. Here is Elisha with the piece of wood sent to seek for the axe, which had sunk, and which swam to the wood; that is, mankind, which by the forbidden tree, fell down to hell, but by the wood of the cross of Christ, and by the baptism of water, swims to paradise. Here is Jonah out of the wood of the ship sent down into the sea and into the whale’s belly for three days [ed note: The Glossa ordinaria has here preserved the right reading, de ligno navis foris, which had been lost both in the editions of St. Jerome and in the Catena.].
There follows: “And they compel Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His cross.”
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).