It should be noted that the growing expectation of an imminent millennial period led many to assume that these emotional manifestations were signs that the dispensation of the Spirit was already beginning. The result was to further stimulate millennial expectations in the frontier groups. Thus Davidson says: PFF4 46.1
“The Millennium was supposed to have commenced, and the ordinary means of grace were superseded, as rather embarrassing the new and free outpouring of the Spirit. Hence the frequent interruptions of preaching and even its entire suspension.” 37Robert Davidson, op. cit., p. 159. PFF4 46.2
Similar expectations marked revival meetings in the East, although, as has been seen, the Eastern revivals, in which most of the colleges, like Yale, were in the forefront, 38A. B. Strickland, op. cit., chap. 4; H. B. Wright, chap. 4 in Two Centuries of Christian Activity at Yale, pp. 63-66. were largely free from emotional and physical reactions. PFF4 46.3