This joyous Christmas hymn, which belongs to the 14th century, of a beautiful simplicity, and absorbing easily so much theology in its poetry, continued long a great favorite in the Lutheran churches of Germany, well- nigh to this day. The original is given by Daniel, Thesaurus, i, 334; Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. 97; Simrock, Laudes Sion, p. 42; Konigsfeld, Hymnen, ii, 304. English translations are given in Lyra Messianica, p. 88; Christian Life in Song, p. 173; Schaff, Christ in Song, p. 50. German translations are given by Simrock and Konigsfeld, and especially by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in his Geschichte des deutsch. Kirchenliedes, p. 340 sq. See also Trench, Daniel, and especially Wackernagel, who, in his Das deutsche Kirchenlied, i, 198-200, gives ten forms of this hymn. (B. P.)