There are LOTS of wonderful historical SDA materials available. The main quarterly from the 1st and 2nd Quarter of 1888
(as well as quantities of other fascinating material) can be found
at Adventist Archives,
and Adventist Digital Library. A surprising array of materials
can be also be found at EGW Writings. And when looking for other materials,
such as references available to the Seventh-day Adventists of the late 1800's, I've found
Internet Archive to be an impressively complete resource.
Materials for 1888 Studies on 2nd Peter:
The ORIGINAL Quarterly from the 3rd and 4th Quarter of 1888
The Lessons on the Second Epistle of Peter, re-typed to be slightly easier to read
Slides from 1888 Lessons in 2nd Peter:
Marginalia: In 1888, pretty much everybody was working from the same Bible. Specifically, the early Adventists were studying the 1611 KJV Bible.
(Although they did also reference - and critique - the Revised Version on occasion).
The 1611 King James Bible features a significant number of marginal notes (called 'marginalia,') throughout the text, offering insights into the translators'
methods and the textual complexities they encountered. The translators included marginal notes for several reasons, including:
The 1611 KJV includes 7,342 marginal notes: 6,565 in the Old Testament and 777 in the New Testament. Three symbols are used to mark the marginal notes
in the text: ✝, ||, and *. The ✝ symbol often indicates a more literal Hebrew meaning, while || is used for alternate translations or textual variants.
You can find these original marginalia at Black Letter King James Bible by navigating to the appropriate verse and clicking on the symbol off to one side. The font on this site is admittedly rather difficult though. There is also a simple list of the marginal notes at Literatura Bautista, which may be easier to use. Just scroll down to the relevant verse!
I'm also including a full PDF version of a 1611 Authorized King Jemes Bible, with all symbols, notes, and marginalia included. I confess this document may be a little challenging to use. You cannot search for a specific verse, as you can on the Black Letter King James Bible site. The non-standardized 1600's language and spelling takes a little practice to use effectively, unlike the list of marginal notes at Literatura Bautista, which features updated, readable text.
Despite these obstacles, you'll probably be able to mostly sound out the words of the 1611 King James if you remember that the letter "s" is often written like a lowercase "f" without the crossbar, especially at the beginning or middle of words... or when we would use a double "s". Other words are just spelled differently. "Mooued," for example is "moved," and "euill" means "evil." You'll notice in both of these examples that letters "u" and "v" were used interchangeably. The letters "i" and "j" are similarly interchangeable, so "Jesus" appears as "Iesus." Finally, since the notion of a single "correct" spelling of words hadn't been developed yet, the 1611 Bible may use the same word with quite different spellings, even on the same page. So you might see "spirit," "spirite," and "spiritt" used randomly. But don't let alternate spellings throw you off! Again, you can mostly sound them out.
Despite these minor difficulties, there's something thrilling about the authenticity of the original! Praise God that He has preserved His Word so precisely and so long... just for us! I hope you delight in (and gain insight from) the historicity of this document, as I do. This PDF looks precisely the same as the 1611 Authorized King James Bible facscimile that I have in my physical posession. Enjoy!
1611 Authorized King James Bible (PDF)
Of course, since nothing is perfect you should be aware that like all of the Bibles in existence in the 1600's, the 1611 KJV does contain the Apocrypha. These books were largely rejected by Protestantism, and removed in susequent editions, although they remain in Catholic Bibles today. But for this early edition the publishers included the Apocrypha, and certain other material generally not accepted in the Protestant world. Certain of these additions, while not to be thought of as a part of the inspired Word of God, do offer a type of historical insight as fictional/historical intertestamental writings. And even in this early edition they are marked seperately and safely contained OUTSIDE of the true Biblical text.