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.