SECOND EDIT: Sermon on the Destruction of Icons

[tectak]

FIRST EDIT:

Hi hes,
excellent edit. Only a couple of  nits. See in text.
Best,
tectak
"... for five hundred years, during which religion was in a more prosperous condition, and a purer doctrine flourished, Christian churches were completely free from visible representations" - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

From Eve in vines about her legs,
Like fetters forged in Paradise,
To Saintly men in grief reposed, I know you cling tenaciously to your capital line starts like some octogenarian octopus but you end up with a surfeit such that it makes me pull up every time I see a capital letter, never  being sure if you have had second thoughts on a line break and forgot to remove the old capital. Is saintly any more in need of a capital than ,say, idols. You make yourself inconsistent in my front room.
We see the brass bull snort with life.

These are the idols John warned us
Would curse our flocks with wicked hearts.
If hammers be the rage of Christ
We all must break these Pagan arts. I know all about equality but why capitalise pagan...er ...and not arts?

From this meek house of stone I preach, " In this meek house of stone I preach.." You will see why.
This pulpit fit for cloistered sheep, "from pulpit fit for cloistered sheep"...otherwise you preach this pulpit. End this sentence with...oh, what is it called....ah, yes , a period.
And these bleak bricks will tell you now: "These cold (eg) bleak bricks..." gets rid of the weak "and".
That Papist hearts will find no sleep. A missed opportunity here, to  get rid of that "that". As you are now "telling" rather than "teaching" you can also lose the colon to a comma. " These cold, bleak bricks will tell you well,
proud papist hearts will find no sleep" Your poem.

ORIGINAL:
"... for five hundred years, during which religion was in a more prosperous condition, and a purer doctrine flourished, Christian churches were completely free from visible representations" - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

From Eve in vines about her legs,
Like fetters forged in Paradise,
To Saintly men in grief reposed,
And God Himself a sack of rice,
Slid limply in His mother's arms.

These are the idols John told us
Would bring to folly naive hearts.
If hammers be the rage of Christ,
Let men destroy these morbid arts.

I speak to thee from place of stone,
A pulpit fit for cloistered sheep,
And this dark stone will teach thee well:
That Papist hearts will find no sleep.

[/b]