L.M. Montgomery's Biblical Worldview in Anne of Green Gables

"God’s in his heaven, all's right with the world" - Anne of Green Gables

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Prince Edward Island and experiencing the world of Anne Shirley, a world I fell in love with through Lucy Maude Montgomery’s books.

Overhead was one long canopy of snowy fragrant bloom. Below the boughs the air was full of a purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle. - Anne of Green Gables, chapter 2

The island is just as full of green fields and wild flowers and trees as Anne describes. And always, they are moving under the influence of a steady warm breeze. Until I experienced them all at once, I didn’t realize how big a role they played in Anne’s life. Visiting the island, you literally cannot get away from them.

Another thing I didn’t fully appreciate until I visited the island was the cemeteries. Anne mentions cemeteries in nearly all eight books, finding them comfortable places to meander and imagine. Well, let me tell you why—they are everywhere! Every church has a cemetery, and every cemetery is well-kept. We walked through one just to see what was to be seen. There were three neat rows of headstones going back at least two hundred years. We walked through rows of fresh-cut grass. (Every cemetery was covered in healthy, green lawn.) Families were sometimes grouped together, sometimes not. And it was interesting to note three repeated family names. PEI families grow deep roots.

One thing I had hoped to find was the lighthouse that inspired Captain Jim’s home in Four Winds from Anne’s House of Dreams. Little did I know that this task was a doozy. Prince Edward Island is home to 63 lighthouses!

The thing about L.M. Montgomery’s writing is that while she used the actual Green Gables house that she spent years in as the model for Matthew and Marilla’s Green Gables, most of the places in her books are inspired by a place or an amalgam of places on PEI. We did eventually find Captain Jim’s lighthouse—present-day Cape Tryon Lighthouse.

Fun Fact: Cape Tryon Lighthouse is the only lighthouse on PEI that received a distress signal from the Titanic.

Cape Tryon Lighthouse is set on a cliff and looks out onto the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Standing next to it not only felt like being in a cinematic scene of some British movie, but it also felt like stepping near the edge of the planet. Oh, Captain Jim, you would have loved it.

The Biblical Worldview in Anne of Green Gables

In anticipation of this Dream Trip, I re-read all eight Anne novels, straight through and in order, something I’d never done before. I’m so glad I did.

Reading the novels straight through gave me a clear picture of Anne’s character arc, a redemptive arc if ever there was one. She grew from an impulsive, imaginative, unfiltered, lonely orphan into a gracious, compassionate, faith-filled wife and mother. Reading the novels straight through also showed me L. M. Montgomery’s biblical worldview. Her worldview jumps from the pages so clearly that I began to highlight the many Bible references, though none of them are given a chapter and verse.

Interestingly, while at Green Gables, I learned that Lucy Maude Montgomery married a Presbyterian minister. They lived off the island so he could minister in Ontario, but eventually, they retired on PEI, where LMM spent the rest of her life.

This influence, I think, explains the delightful Presbyterian vs. Methodist rivalry in Four Winds as seen best in the character of Miss Cornelia.

Quotations

List list of quotes from the Anne series, not at all exhaustive, show L.M. Montgomery’s biblical worldview.

"After all it was better to have, like Anne, "the vision and the faculty divine" … that gift which the world cannot bestow or take away, of looking at life through some transfiguring … or revealing? … medium, whereby everything seemed apparelled in celestial light, wearing a glory and a freshness not visible to those who, like herself and Charlotta the Fourth, looked at things only through prose." - Anne of Avonlea, chapter 29
"She was richer in those dreams than in realities; for things seen pass away, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - Anne of the Island, chapter 1
"Last Sunday night he announced that next Sunday he'd preach on the axe-head that swam. I think he'd better confine himself to the Bible and leave sensational subjects alone." - Anne of the Island, chapter 5
"She had lived solely for the little things of life—the things that pass—forgetting the great things that go onward into eternity, bridging the gulf between the two lives and making of death a mere passing from one dwelling to the other—from twilight to unclouded day." - Anne of the Island, chapter 14
"The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth." - Anne of the Island, chapter 14
"A sentence from a very old, very true, very wonderful Book came to her lips, "Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning." - Anne of the Island, chapter 40
"The winds will be my friends. They'll wail and sigh and croon around my tower … the white winds of winter … the green winds of spring … the blue winds of summer … the crimson winds of autumn … and the wild winds of all seasons … 'stormy wind fulfilling his word.' How I've always thrilled to that Bible verse … as if each and every wind had a message for me." - Anne of Windy Poplars, chapter 1

"I lent Jen my Foxe's Book of Martyrs. I hate to lend a book I love … it never seems quite the same when it comes back to me …" - Anne of Windy Poplars, chapter 11
"One of the things Elizabeth is going to do in Tomorrow is 'go to Philadelphia and see the angel in the church.' I haven't told her … I never will tell her … that the Philadelphia St. John was writing about was not Phila., Pa. We lose our illusions soon enough." - Anne of Wind Poplars, Part 1, chapter 12
"He worships the boy, I've heard," said Aunt Kate. "' Thou shalt have no other gods before me,'" quoted Rebecca Dew suddenly." - Anne of Windy Poplars, Part 2, chapter 2
"Davy made enough noise to wake the Seven Sleepers, at an unearthly hour Christmas morning, ringing an old cowbell up and down the stairs." - Anne of Windy Poplars, Part 2, chapter 6
"And I've kept the faith." - Anne of Windy Poplars, Part 3, chapter 14
"Said Mrs. Rachel, in the tone of one who is comfortably sure that her prayers have availed much." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 2
"You and the young doctor take MY advice, you won't have much to do with the Methodists. My motto is—if you ARE a Presbyterian, BE a Presbyterian." "Don't you think that Methodists go to heaven as well as Presbyterians?" asked Anne smilelessly. "That isn't for US to decide. It's in higher hands than ours," said Miss Cornelia solemnly. "But I ain't going to associate with them on earth whatever I may have to do in heaven." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 8
"Oh, there's a few, just to show that with God all things are possible," acknowledged Miss Cornelia reluctantly. "I don't deny that an odd man here and there, if he's caught young and trained up proper, and if his mother has spanked him well beforehand, may turn out a decent being. YOUR husband, now, isn't so bad, as men go, from all I hear. I s'pose"—Miss Cornelia looked sharply at Anne over her glasses—" you think there's nobody like him in the world." "There isn't," said Anne promptly." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 8
"The woods call to us with a hundred voices, but the sea has one only—a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music. The woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels."- Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 9
"And what they're going to do in heaven, where there's probably no politics, is more than I can fathom." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 9
"We came to the comforting conclusion that the Creator probably knew how to run His universe quite as well as we do, and that, after all, there are no such things as 'wasted' lives, saving and except when an individual wilfully squanders and wastes his own life—which Leslie Moore certainly hasn't done." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 14
"Whatever the New Year brings us will be the best the Great Captain has for us—and somehow or other we'll all make port in a good harbor." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 16
"Just now my garden is like faith—the substance of things hoped for." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 18
"Mind you, I believe what I was brought up to believe. It saves a vast of bother—and back of it all, God is good." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 18
""It's so beautiful that it hurts me," said Anne softly. "Perfect things like that always did hurt me—I remember I called it 'the queer ache' when I was a child. What is the reason that pain like this seems inseparable from perfection? Is it the pain of finality—when we realise that there can be nothing beyond but retrogression? . . ."Perhaps," said Owen dreamily, "it is the prisoned infinite in us calling out to its kindred infinite as expressed in that visible perfection." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 20 [This quote comes up in This Homeward Ache as an example of Sehnsuhct.]
"Ah, well, let's not borrow trouble," said Anne. "The rate of interest is too high." - Anne’s House of Dreams, chapter 35
"You have to work in a garden yourself or you miss its meaning. I want to weed and dig and transplant and change and plan and prune. And I want the flowers I love in heaven …" - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 5
Dear God, help him and help the mother … help all mothers everywhere. We need so much help, with the little sensitive, loving hearts and minds that look to us for guidance and love and understanding." - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 6
"She knew Nan's worry was real and dreadful to her; and she also realized that this small daughter's theology needed attention. "Darling, you're terribly mistaken about it all. God doesn't make bargains. He gives . . . gives without asking anything from us in return except love. When you ask Father or me for something you want, we don't make bargains with you … and God is ever and ever so much kinder than we are. And He knows so much better than we do what is good to give." - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 26
"Anne sewed and planned little winter wardrobes … "Nan must have a red dress, since she is so set on it" … and sometimes thought of Hannah, weaving her little coat every year for the small Samuel. Mothers were the same all through the centuries … a great sisterhood of love and service … the remembered and the unremembered alike." - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 27
"Mother, I guess I was naughty last night. I said, 'Give us tomorrow our daily bread,' instead of today. It seemed more logical. Do you think God minded, Mother?" - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 27
"There's a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you … 'She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.'" - Anne of Ingleside, chapter 41
"The Good Book says that favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, but I should not have minded finding that out for myself, if it had been so ordained. I have no doubt we will all be beautiful when we are angels, but what good will it do us then?" - Rainbow Valley, chapter 1
""Oh, Mary, no!" exclaimed horrified Una. "God isn't a bit like father—I mean He's a thousand times better and kinder."- Rainbow Valley, chapter 9
"Say, Una, it seems to me if one has to pray to anybody it'd be better to pray to the devil than to God. God's good, anyhow so you say, so He won't do you any harm, but from all I can make out the devil needs to be pacified. I think the sensible way would be to say to HIM, 'Good devil, please don't tempt me. Just leave me alone, please.' Now, don't you?" - Rainbow Valley, chapter 9
"I didn't know there was any woods in heaven," said Mary, with a long breath. "I thought it was all streets—and streets—AND streets." "Of course there are woods," said Nan. "Mother can't live without trees and I can't, so what would be the use of going to heaven if there weren't any trees?" - Rainbow Valley, chapter 11
"We must just trust in God and make big guns. . . "Big guns are good but the Almighty is better, and He is on our side,"" - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 11
"The body grows slowly and steadily, but the soul grows by leaps and bounds." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 14
"Rilla, dear, I've known for several days that Walter meant to go. I've had time to–to rebel and grow reconciled. We must give him up. There is a Call greater and more insistent than the call of our love–he has listened to it. We must not add to the bitterness of his sacrifice." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 14
"An infinite Power must be infinitely little as well as infinitely great. We are neither, therefore there are things too little as well as too great for us to apprehend. To the infinitely little an ant is of as much importance as a mastodon." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 19
"That is not the way God works. But work He does, Miss Oliver, and in the end His purpose will be fulfilled." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 19
"I wouldn't want to go back and be the girl I was two years ago, not even if I could. Not that I think I've made any wonderful progress–but I'm not quite the selfish, frivolous little doll I was then. I suppose I had a soul then, Miss Oliver–but I didn't know it. I know it now–and that is worth a great deal–worth all the suffering of the past two years. And still"–Rilla gave a little apologetic laugh, "I don't want to suffer any more–not even for the sake of more soul growth. At the end of two more years I might look back and be thankful for the development they had brought me, too; but I don't want it now." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 22
"I say that verse Susan read over and over again to myself. The Lord of Hosts is with us–and the spirits of all just men made perfect–and even the legions and guns that Germany is massing on the western front must break against such a barrier." - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 27
"There was one day when all humanity seemed nailed to the cross" - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 28
"For he isn't old enough to understand that God doesn't answer our prayers just as we hope–and doesn't make bargains with us when we yield something we love up to Him" - Rilla of Ingleside, chapter 31

Your Turn

When have you been surprised to find evidence of a biblical worldview in a book?

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