How to Search Your Entire Logos Library in a Flash

At the local library

“Hi, I’m looking for all references in this library to William Tyndale.”

“Sure, I’m a reference librarian, so I’d be happy to help you with that. Hmm . . . . Looks like we’ve got two books in the religion section with ‘William Tyndale’ in the title or description.”

“Well, that’s great, but I was kind of hoping for any reference to William Tyndale within your books. And not just in those two. I’m sure he shows up elsewhere. And don’t forget journals, magazines, encyclopedias, visual media. Just anything you’ve got on Tyndale, thanks.”

“Um . . . ”

With your Logos library

“Hi, I’m looking for all references in this library to William Tyndale.”

“Sure. Just give me .89 seconds.”

“Ok, that’s fine, I’ll just go to Facebook while I wait and check my . . . ”

“Done.”

The Everything Search

Sometimes you want everything your library has to say about a given topic. That’s why Logos 6 has Everything Search.

When I searched my personal library for everything it had to say on William Tyndale, I came across this little gem from his heartfelt preface to his world-changing translation of the New Testament. Tyndale, a great scholar, believed heartily in the maintenance of personal piety.

Now yf any mā yͤ submitteth not him selfe to kepe yͤ cōmaundmētes/do thinke yͤ he hath any faith in God/yͤ same mānes faith is in vayne/wordsye/dānable/develisshe/& playne presumpciō.

Let’s try that again, this time in contemporary English:

Now if any man who does not submit himself to keep the commandments thinks that he has any faith in God, the man’s faith is in vain, wordsy, damnable, devilish, and plain presumption.

Ouch! We who have such easy access to everything the Bible says must not be “wordsy”—people who don’t practice what we preach, who honor God with our lips but not our actions.

But even wordsy people have recourse to God’s mercy (“translation” below):

Two things are required to begyn a Christē mā. The fyrst is a steds fast fayth and trust in almightie God to obtayne all the mercie that he hath promysed us thorow yͤ deservinge & merites of Christes bloude only/with out al respect to oure own workes. And the other is/that we forsake evyll & turne to god/to kepe his lawes and to fyght agaynst oure selves and oure corrupte nature perpetuallye/that we maye do the wyll of God every daye better and better.

Which, being translated, is:

Two things are required to begin a Christian man. The first is a steadfast faith and trust in almighty God to obtain all the mercy that he has promised us through the deserving and merits of Christ’s blood only without all respect to our own works. And the other is that we forsake evil and turn to God to keep his laws and to fight against ourselves and our corrupt nature perpetually that we may do the will of God every day better and better.

The message of repentance and faith Tyndale preached in his preface is the same one I believe almost 500 years later. What could Tyndale have done with a Logos library and Everything Search?

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Written by
Mark Ward

Mark Ward (PhD, Bob Jones University) is Senior Editor for Digital Content at Word by Word, the official Logos blog. He is the author of several books and textbooks including Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption (BJU Press, 2016), Basics for a Biblical Worldview (BJU Press, 2021), and Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible (Lexham Press, 2018), which became a Faithlife infotainment documentary. He is also a host for Logos Live and is an active YouTuber.

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