Salomon the sage A sermon he made, For to amenden maires And men that kepen lawes; And tolde hem this teme, That I telle thynke, Ignis devorabit tabernacula eorum qui libenter accipiunt munera, etc.
Kynges and knyghtes, That kepen holy chirche, And rightfully in remes Rulen the peple, Han pardon thorugh purgatorie To passen ful lightly, With patriarkes and prophetes In paradis to be felawe.
I se ensamples myself, And so may manye othere, That servauntz that serven lordes Selde fallen in arerage, 6560 And tho that kepen the lordes catel, Clerkes and reves.
There kepen the sterres, by rightful alliaunce of thinges, hir olde pees.
Forwhy certes, it nedeth of ful manye helpinges to kepen the diversitee of precious ostelments.
And the thinges eek that men wenen ne haven none sowles, 95 ne desire they nat ech of hem by semblable resoun to kepen that is hirs, that is to seyn, that is acordinge to hir nature in conservacioun of hir beinge and enduringe?
And thanne is it good to be war, and kepen him wel, or elles he wol falle anon in-to consentinge of sinne; and thanne wol he do it, if he may have tyme and place.
And understond wel, that the gretteste and strongeste garnison that a riche man may have, as wel to kepen his persone as hise goodes, is / that he be biloved amonges his subgets and with hise neighebores.
And certes he sholde nat be called a gentil man, that after god and good conscience, alle thinges left, ne dooth his diligence and bisinesse to kepen his good name.
For Salomon seith: "it is a greet worship to a man to kepen him fro noyse and stryf.
They sellen the soules that lambes sholde kepento the wolf that strangleth hem.
This vertu is so mighty and so vigorous, that it dar withstonde mightily and wysely kepen him-self fro perils that been wikked, and wrastle agayn the assautes of the devel.
And certes, if that a wyf coude kepen hir al chaast by licence of hir housbonde, so that she yeve nevere noon occasion that he agilte, it were to hire a greet merite.
For which men moste kepen hem wysely, or elles may men sinnen ful grevously.
And therefore yow is bettre to hyde your conseil in your herte, than praye him, to whom ye han biwreyed your conseil, that he wole kepen it cloos and stille.
I kepen in no wyse; here the use of -en saves a hiatus, but the concord is false, like the Latin ego seruamus.
And sorcery usen as a wicche; Such kepen yvell Peters key.
His wyse folk to conseil han him yiven To seken help and socour of the queen, And loken what his grace mighte been, (40) And maken in that lond som chevisaunce, To kepen him fro wo and fro mischaunce.
But what glut of tho gomes May any good kachen, He wyl kepen it hemself, And cofrene it faste; And thoigh his felawes fayle good, For hym he may sterven.
Kepen it clene an houre, That I ne soiled it with sighte Or som ydel speche, Or thorugh werk, or thorugh word, Or wille of myn herte, That I ne flobre it foule Fro morwe til even.
And han clerkes to kepen us therinne, {328} And hem that shul come after us.
And the Cristene ben cursed also, as thei seyn: for theirkepen not the commandementes and the preceptes of the Gospelle, that Jesu Crist taughte hem.
And than thei maken a gret fuyr, and brennen the body: and thanne everyche of his frendes taken a quantyte of the assches, and kepen hem in stede of relykes, and seyn, that it is a holy thing.
And in the Castelle of Amours lythe the body of Seynt Hyllarie: and men kepen it right worschipfully.
And seint Poul him self was there a physicyen, for to kepen mennes bodies in hele, before he was converted: and aftre that, he was phisicien of soules.
For thei kepen entierly the commaundement of the holy book Alkaron, that God sente hem be his messager Machomet; to the whiche, as thei seyne, seynt Gabrielle the aungel often tyme tolde the wille of God.
And the Sarrazines kepen that place fulle derely, for the profyte that thei han there offe: and thei ben fulle wykked Sarrazines and cruelle, and more dispytous than in ony other place, and han destroyed alle the chirches.
Thei fasten an hool monethe in the zeer, and eten noughts but be nyghte, and thei kepen hem fro here wyfes alle that monethe: but the seke men be not constreyned to that fast.
But after the firste nyght, that they ben leyn by, thei kepen hem so streytely, that thei ben not so hardy to speke with no man.
And thei cone wel wynnen lond of straungeres, but thei cone not kepen it.
In the yle also of this Taprobane ben gret hilles of gold, that Pissemyres kepen fulle diligently.
Thei kepen that commandement: but wee ne kepenit not.
I "kepen in solitarinesse," for Brown has gone a-visiting.
Kepen in solitarinesse, And kissen devoute the holy croce.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "kepen" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
