As a student of Christian Science, I am so grateful for the inspired and precise vocabulary used in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and other writings by Mary Baker Eddy. In my continuing study, I have found that looking deeper into the spiritual meaning of specific words and phrases brings clarity and depth well beyond my initial gleanings. 

One day, the word solvent came to me as I was cleaning a tray that had been badly tarnished. A huge black stain had marred its appearance, making its copper surface unrecognizable. My efforts to clean it with various detergents and home remedies were fruitless. It was only when I eventually applied a proper cleanser that was specifically recommended for copper that the tarnish was quickly gone, revealing a shiny, pinkish glow.

But as I was scrubbing away with the wrong products and thinking about the word solvent, this statement from Science and Health came to mind: “In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error—self-will, self-justification, and self-love—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death” (p. 242).