It is not strange to us that the same ideals which inspired the early followers of Christ, also the Saints of this dispensation as well as those wherever His Church is organized, are alike.
One of the Prophet Joseph Smith's first teachings was concerning the poor and the needy. He wanted no poor among us; from those who were rich as to the things of the world, he demanded a considerable portion. He gave to the needy, and to the sick and afflicted he provided for their wants; he kept little for his own.
In Acts of the Apostles, Second Chapter, verses 41-47, it tells when the great experiment of rendering equal all members of the Church was made a reality:
"And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
"And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."
One of the first Church fathers, who was born in the year A.D. 104, truthfully said to the Emperor at Rome:
"Those of us who before delighted in impunities now rejoice in sobriety; those who practiced the magical arts now have devoted themselves to the benevolent and eternal Father; those who sought to acquire wealth, above all things, now have their possessions in common, and give to him that needeth; those who hated and slaughtered each other, and being of different tribes had no intercourse after the appearance of Christ, living in the same communion, pray for enemies and endeavor to convert those that unjustly hate us." Justin Martyr.