Cumberland Presbyterians (1810)

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was formed in 1810 on the American frontier by ministers who found Westminster's doctrine of the decree too restrictive for frontier revivalism. They adopted a revised confession (1814, further revised 1883) that softened the decree: God sincerely desires the salvation of all, election is not unconditional in the hard Calvinist sense, and the atonement is general. They retained Westminster's polity, Sabbath, and sacramental theology. The Cumberland revision is the most explicitly Arminian-softened offshoot of the Westminster tradition.