In this case of marriage, the journeyman, if he cannot otherwise be won over, shall first be forced by oath to confess whether he has promised to marry the maid. If he confesses with an oath that he has not promised to marry her, he shall be released from her. But if he confesses that he has promised and pledged marriage to the maid, then one shall act and speak with the journeyman's father in such a way that his son, as the legend and speech go, has prevented the maid from marrying someone else, because otherwise she would have taken someone else in marriage.
If the father would now use his paternal honor and power, he must be informed that it is his duty to prove this paternal power, to govern, keep and educate his son in such a way and to be careful that he does no harm to another, namely as an obstacle to marriage; therefore he is obligated to give the maidservant conduct and
to make restitution. For the paternal power should not be against but for Christian love. Because the father did not do what was due to him as a father in one instance, thereby offending his neighbor, the father must also give way in the other instance and be deprived of his paternal power.
It would be a fine thing to use paternal authority to my liking and let it go to ruin my neighbor. For paternal authority is to be understood only when everything is right, namely, when the third person is not offended with his own. Therefore the father should be urged to this opinion; for why did he not draw his son in such a way that he did not do harm and damage to the maid? etc.
Martinus Luther.