THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
The fourth behest is this: ‘Honour thy father and thy mother, for thou shalt live the longer on the earth.’ This behest admonishes us that we beware that we anger not father nor mother wittingly. And whoso despises his father and his mother wittingly, or slanders them, or angers with evil, sins deadly, and breaks this behest.
In this same behest is understood the honour that we shall bear to our spiritual fathers, that is, to them that have the care of teaching us and of chastising us, such as are the rulers of holy Church, and those that have the care of our souls and of our bodies. And whoso will not bow to them that have the care of him, when they teach the good that one is bound to do, sins deadly; and the disobedience may be such that it is deadly sin.