Verse 10.—'Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.' 47. Our consent opened the doors of concupiscence, whence come countless evils. As was also said above, 'it shut not up' means 'it opened'; and 'it took not away' means 'it inflicted.' This night, then, namely sin, opened the doors of the womb, because to the man conceived unto sin it unlocked the desires of concupiscence. For the doors of the womb are the desires of concupiscence, of which it is said through the prophet: 'Enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors' (Isa. 26:20). For we enter the chambers when we go into the secret places of our mind. And we shut the doors when we restrain unlawful desires.
When, therefore, our consent opened these doors of carnal concupiscence, it dragged us to the countless evils of corruption. Hence we now groan under the burden of mortality, although we came to this by our own choice; because the justice of judgment also so requires, that what we did willingly, we should bear unwillingly. There follows: