Russell S. Cook › Hymnals

Cook, Russell Sturgis, born at New Marlborough, Mass., March 6, 1811, was educated for the Congregational Ministry, and married a daughter of Dr. Caesar Malan, of Geneva. From 1839 to 1856 he was one of the Secretaries of the American Tract Society. He was the originator of its system of colportage. Subsequently he became Secretary of the New York Sabbath Committee. He also edited the American Messenqer. He died at Pleasant Valley, New York, Sept. 4, 1864. His hymn:—
Just as thou art, without one trace. Invitation, was published in the American Messenger, March, 1850, in. 6 stanzas of 4 lines. It was written as a companion hymn to Miss Elliott's "Just as I am, without one plea," and was sent by the author to her. It was soon adopted by editors of American hymn-books, sometimes in an abbreviated form, beginning with stanza iii. as, "Burdened with guilt, wouldst thou be blest?" as in the Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858. It became known in Great Britain through Lord Selborne's Book of Praise, 1862. In that collection it was reprinted from an anonymous tract, in which stanzas ii, and vi. are omitted. This form of the hymn is usually given in the English collections. Full original text in Schaff’s Christ in Song, 1869-70. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)