In a sermon dated March 2, 1879, John
Taylor was recorded as saying the following wherein he seems to limit the
command to build temples was not part of the New Testament era, but only this,
the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times (cf. D&C 128:18). This would
explain why we find hints in the New Testament and later texts of temple
practices but no evidence that the early Christians built temples:
Now then,
we have got a priesthood organized here upon the earth, as there was one
organized in the days of Jesus, only with this distinctive difference,—that
that was a dispensation of God to them; this we live in is the dispensation of
the fulness of times, embracing all other dispensations and times and powers
and authorities that have existed upon the face of the earth, in the various
ages, from the commencement to the present time. Herein it differs from others.
Hence we are requested to gather together, something which they were not
commanded to do. We are told to build Temples: they were not. We are told to
administer for the living and the dead, which ordinances were only performed
then to a very limited extent. We are called upon to build up not only the
Church, but the kingdom of God, and to introduce the rule and government of God
upon the earth. (JOD 2:257-58)