64 TARE ANT RUSHTON CHURCH. 



F.S.A., who read a valuable paper to the Society of Antiquaries in 

 1881 on the subject of the Agnus Dei, in which he instances the 

 example on our lintel, after visiting the Church, wrote to me as 

 folloAvs : 



" The sculpture on the tympanum, or rather the mutilated lintel, of a 

 former Norman doorway at Rush ton Church is very curious, and, as far 

 as I am aware, unique in its treatment. In the centre is the Agnus Dei 

 with the Cross supported on the right forefoot, and a scroll coming from 

 His mouth enclosing a portion of an oval object, perhaps intended for a 

 vesica. On the east side is a figure seated full-faced in the act of 

 Benediction and holding an open Look in the left hand, while on the west 

 side is another figure, seated sideways and facing the Agnus Dei, with a 

 closed book in the left hand and holding a dove in the right. I think we 

 have here pourtrayed the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, a subject 

 which cannot to my knowledge be positively identified elsewhere in 

 England during the Norman period." 



Another suggests that whilst the great central object represents 

 the crucified Saviour, each of the human figures may be intended 

 for an ecclesiastic (the book in each case implying a teacher), the 

 hand of the one lifted up in the act of benediction, denoting the 

 blessing, and the dove on the hand of the other the peace which 

 will be bestowed on those who pay homage to the Redeemer. 

 Whilst another says, " I think it possible that the third figure may 

 be the personification of ' Sapientia,' which occurs in very ancient 

 sculptures in conjunction with the well-known representation of 

 Our Saviour in the act of blessing. * And still another. A scholar 

 who has seen much of the world and has read and thought much 

 comes and suggests that the east figure may represent the Saviour 

 pronouncing His benediction on those whose names are in the open 

 book the Lamb's Book of Life whilst the west figure represents 

 Him as Judge, the bird, looking in the face, representing a soul 

 undergoing judgment or giving an account of the past; the closed 

 book implying that the time is past for any name to be written 

 there. And so one might go on ad infinitum, 



But to me this, at any rate, seems clear that long before the 

 Reformation we have the open Bible held up to the people, and 



