In the twelfth chapter of the book of Acts is the account of the imprisonment of the Apostle Peter by Herod, the king.
Peter was bound with chains and guarded by four quaternions of soldiers. One night, as he was sleeping between two of the soldiers, a light shone in the prison, and an angel came to him to arouse him from his sleep. "Arise up quickly," it said. Obediently Peter arose, and as he did so his chains fell off. As he went forward following the angel, the great iron gate of the prison opened for him, and he was free.
"Arise up quickly"! Daily, hourly, a similar command comes to us, whatever our prisons may seem to be, whether of pain or poverty or discord of any kind. As students of Christian Science, we must rise up out of all the shackles that we may have forged for ourselves, or that circumstances may seem to have forged for us. We must rise up quickly, not grumbling over the charge to do so, not slowly, sadly, counting the effort, not fearfully leaving what may appear to be the security or the semisecurity of the status quo, but quickly. Then, freed from the impediments of fear and doubt, we can go forward following the angel message of Truth, glorying in our ability to do so.
