Temple Magazine

The Temple Magazine v.1 no.1

I wonder if anybody can account for ideas? They seem to float about like thistledown in autumn winds, and to drop anywhere at haphazard. Whether they take root or not depends on many circumstances. It would be almost impossible to explain the genesis of The Temple Magazine. I do not know when the idea first suggested itself. I know it grew very slowly at first, and has taken many months to ripen. It is quite true that there seems almost a surfeit of magazines in the field, but it is also true that no other new venture is on precisely the same lines. This is intended as a magazine for the home, the church, and the school—a magazine that may be read on the Sunday and week-day alike, and will be of interest to all classes and demoninations. It will not be narrow or sectarian or goody-goody. It will be broad, tolerant, strong and devout. Nothing will be admitted to its pages that could offend the moral sensibilities of anyone. It shall be healthy and helpful and entertaining from the first page to the last.
__This is said in no spirit of boasting. The services of the best and most healthy writers of the day have been secured, and their ripest work will appear from month to month. If money and brains can ensure success, The Temple Magazine will stand in the forefront. We do not pretend that the present number is the best that can be produced. Everyone who has the smallest acquaintance with journalism knows that in the production of a new magazine legions of initial difficulties have to be overcome. The launching of a new magazine is like the launching of a new vessel. A thousand things have to be done that will not need doing a second time. When the barque is once afloat, the voyages can be run with comparative ease.From time to time new features will be introduced that will make The Temple Magazine still more attractive. But we are not without hope that the present number will give satisfaction to everyone who knows how to appreciate a good article, and will be a sufficient guarantee of what is to come. The special features deserve more than a passing word. The series of Illustrated Life Stories should be prove of exceptional interest. They are not mere interviews; they are much more than that. They are terse, vivid, and up-to-date biographies; giving in the smallest reasonable compass all the salient features in the lives of the individuals named. The name of Mrs. Tooley will be sufficient guarantee of the character of the workmanship as well as of the accuracy of the details. In every case her information will be first-hand, special facilities having been granted her for this series of Life Stories. This is true also of the series of articles under the head of “Churches That Live and Move.” In each case a special visit will be paid by a representative of The Temple Magazine, who will thus write from actual observation, and only such information will be inserted as likely to be of general interest.
__I think it a happy circumstance that the services of Dr. Parker have been secured for what may be regarded as the strictly religious portion of the magazine. Month by month in “The Home Service” he will give us the best of his heart and brain. And all who have felt the reverance of prayer, and caught glimpses of the deeper meanings of God’s truth, will be thankful for those practical, profound, and deeply spiritual expositions.
__We are quite anticipating also that “The Temple Parliament” will awaken more than a passing interest. The subjects that may be discussed are almost numberless; nor need they all be of a serious order. Subjects gay as well as grave may find a place. And since each writer will look at the matter under discussion from his own standpoint, the diversity of opinions expressed should not only be exceedingly entertaining, but highly instructive. That “The Home Department,” under the able editorship of “Phyllis Browne,” will be of great value goes without saying. Nothing of interest to mothers and daughters, and housewives generally, but will have a place in this department, and may have the fullest discussion.

Published by Horace J. Marshall & Son, Temple House, Temple Avenue, E.C., Temple Magazine was the brainchild of Silas K. Hocking and published (according to the cover) in a first edition of 100,000 copies.

The Gambling Curse was the subject of the first Temple Parliament, with brief contributions by W. E. Gladstone, Rev. T. Vincent Tymms, Hon. and Rev. E. Lyttelton, Dr. R. F. Horton, John Hawke (secretary of the Anti-Gambling League) and Frederick A. Atkins (founder of the League). Atkins, it would seem, was the actual editor of the paper rather than Hocking (this according to Mike Ashley's The Age of the Storytellers. Atkins was also editor of other magazines for Horace Marshall, including The Young Man and Young Woman.

The second issue was set to include a new stories by Gilbert Parker (‘A Worker In Stone’), Jean Barlow (‘M’Neill’s Tiger-Sheep’), Mary A. Dickens (‘Not In Vain’) plus articles by Mrs. S. A. Tooley (‘Life Story of Hugh Price Hughes’) plus a lively discussion on the topic of “Should Sensible Women Follow the Fashions?”.

Temple Magazine ran for a total of 84 issues, coming to an end with the September 1903 issue.

Contents:

The Temple Magazine [v1 #1, October 1896] (6d, 80pp, cover by ?)
1 * Couch, A. T. Quiller * The Lady of the Red Admirals * ss; illus. Chris Hammond
7 * Tooley, Sarah A. * The Life Story of Dean Farrar * ar
18 * Gould, S. Baring * From Death to Life * ss; illus. Sydney Cowell
25 * Maclaren, Ian * A Right Appreciation of Riches * ar
28 * Hocking, Silas K. * In Spite of Fate [Part 1 of ?] * sl; illus. Florence Reason
41 * Porritt, Arthur * Churches That Live and Move I—Union Chapel, Manchester * ar
47 * Carey, Rosa Nouchette * Sir Galahad * ss; illus. Arthur Twidle
53 * Gale, Norman * Autumnal Beauty * pm; illus. Thos. Greenhalgh
54 * Haweis, Rev. H. R. * Marie Corelli As I Knew Her * ar
57 * Leslie, Marion * Round and About Sadringham * ar
65 * [Misc. Material] * Preachers in Their Pulpits I—Canon Scott Holland at St. Paul’s * il; illus. Will Morgan
66 * Parker, Joseph * The Home Service * ar
70 * Hocking, Silas K. * Round the Study Fire * ed
74 * Browne, Phyllis * Our Home Department * ms
78 * [Misc. Material] * The Temple Parliament * ms