To this estate of fatherhood and motherhood God has given the special
distinction above all estates that are beneath it that He not simply
commands us to love our parents, but to honor them. For with respect to
brothers, sisters, and our neighbors in general He commands nothing
higher than that we love them, so that He separates and distinguishes
father and mother above all other persons upon earth, and places them
at His side. For it is a far higher thing to honor than to love one,
inasmuch as it comprehends not only love, but also modesty, humility,
and deference as to a majesty there hidden, and requires not only that
they be addressed kindly and with reverence, but, most of all that both
in heart and with the body we so act as to show that we esteem them
very highly, and that, next to God, we regard them as the very highest.
For one whom we are to honor from the heart we must truly regard as
high and great.

We must, therefore impress it upon the young that they should regard
their parents as in God's stead, and remember that however lowly, poor,
frail, and queer they may be, nevertheless they are father and mother
given them by God. They are not to be deprived of their honor because
of their conduct or their failings. Therefore we are not to regard
their persons, how they may be, but the will of God who has thus
created and ordained. In other respects we are, indeed, all alike in
the eyes of God; but among us there must necessarily be such inequality
and ordered difference, and therefore God commands it to be observed,
that you obey me as your father, and that I have the supremacy.

Learn, therefore, first, what is the honor towards parents required by
this commandment to wit, that they be held in distinction and esteem
above all things, as the most precious treasure on earth. Furthermore,