Freut euch ihr Christen. [Christmas.] This appears in the Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, Magdeburg, 1540; and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 841, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. In the Leipzig Gesang-Buch, 1582, altered to "Freut euch ihr lieben Christen," and this text is mostly followed in later collections. Included as No. 394 in Knapp's Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 1850 (1865, No. 402). The only translation in common use is:—
Rejoice, rejoice, ye Christians. A good and full translation as No. 32 in Miss Winkworth's Chorale Book for England, 1863, thence into the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868, and the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)