"We don't mean to completely sever men from others in the church or organization in the area of well doing, for we have said there are many good deeds which can only be accomplished by numbers. 

But generally speaking, we can do the most good by individual action, and our own virtue is incomparably more improved by it. It is vastly better that we should give our own money with our hands, from our own judgment, and through personal interest in the distresses of others, than that we should send it by a substitute like a church. Second-hand charity is not as good to the giver or receiver as immediate personal help. 

When we are personally involved we will almost certainly put forth more of our intellect and heart, more of sympathy and strenuous purpose, and shall awaken more of virtuous sensibility in those whom we relieve, than if we were to be a part of a multitude in accomplishing the same end. 

One good action, springing from our own minds, performed from a principle within, performed without the excitement of an urging and approving voice from abroad, is worth more than hundreds which grow from mechanical imitation, or from the heat and impulse which a group or persuasive speaker can give us.