It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith if He had known that it was not capable of understanding His words?

Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899), the American evangelist associated with the late-19th-century revival movement, frequently urged Christians to evangelize children and to trust in their capacity for genuine faith. In his preaching and writing on “child religion” and Sunday-school work, Moody pushed back against the common hesitation to speak plainly to children about sin, repentance, and Christ, arguing that delay often hardens the heart. This remark reflects that pastoral and polemical setting: he frames skepticism about children’s spiritual understanding as a spiritual deception and appeals to Jesus’ own use of a child as an exemplar of faith in the Gospels.

Moody’s point is both theological and practical. Theologically, he argues that Christ’s teaching makes childlike faith a model, so it cannot be meaningless or unintelligible to children themselves. Practically, he challenges adults who postpone religious instruction until adolescence, suggesting that such postponement is not neutral but spiritually dangerous. By calling the doubt a “masterpiece of the devil,” he casts the issue as a contest over souls: the enemy’s strategy is to persuade adults that children are incapable, thereby ensuring they are not taught. The quote thus champions early, direct religious formation and confidence in children’s moral and spiritual receptivity.