In his book “The City of God,” St. Augustine of Hippo writes to defend Christianity against pagan claims of abandonment of God. When the city of Rome fell in 410, many citizens claimed it was Christianity's fault, but Augustine said blood was on the hands of those who opposed God by seeking peace in earthly things. He also compares the city of Rome with the Heavenly City to show the differences in true happiness through peace between the two cities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Augustine begins his writing by expressing his response to the people's assertion that God is at fault. Augustine says that pagan believers “were more attached to the seduction of evil spirits,” which explains why they “do not blame themselves for the evil they do, but blame Christianity for the evil they suffer” (208 ). This quote explains the reason why the city becomes corrupt. Because of the sinful behavior of the citizens, the city's joy is crushed by the enemy. Joylessness emphasizes the search for joy which, when not centered on God, causes that search to be in earthly things. This also explains Augustine's response to the pagans when he tells them that they "still wallow in sin, even in the depths of sorrow" (208). Sin gets stuck in a cycle where the unrighteous pursuit of happiness causes more sin, which leads to more pursuit and so on. Augustine says that in God this search is useless. As Augustine continues, he describes the only way to find the sufficient source of happiness: peace with God. He begins by explaining that, even when Rome was under the praise of pagan gods, the one true God was still in control. The old pagan heroes of Rome were moral, and Augustine says that the "splendour of the Empire" was a small reward of "temporal glory" for the "laudable efforts of virtue by which they strove to attain" (212). . This reward came from God, but because they praised others, the glory was short-lived. The pagans have received their reward and enjoyed it, so that they now have “no right to complain of the justice of the true and supreme God,” Augustine says (212). On the other hand, “the reward of the saints is quite different” (212). On earth, they suffered hatred and afflictions while defending God and loving Him supremely. This love and admiration was rewarded with citizenship in the City of God, something far more lasting than the pagan reward. Resisting the search for happiness in earthly substances pays off for the righteous. Augustine says that in the City of God “this true and perfect happiness reigns” and it can only be explained as a “gift of God” (212). This becomes the basis of Augustine's comparisons between earth and heaven. One of Augustine's main goals in "The City of God" is not only to show the differences between Rome and the Heavenly City, but also to show how Rome should have imitated the Heavenly City. Augustine first describes how earthly citizens use perishable means to relieve the pain of “supreme evil” (214). There is no reason to relieve pain when you can eradicate it completely. The earthly city seeks a limited amount of happiness and digs deeper and deeper in the wrong direction to achieve its true precious goal. Heavenly citizens morally use earthly happiness as a springboard to the peace promised by God. The earthly city “flourished with selfish love” and a “thirst for.: 9781581529999