Without a belief in personal immortality, religion surely is like an arch resting on one pillar, like a bridge ending in an abyss. [ Max Muller ]

Secrecy of design, when combined with rapidity of execution, like the column that guided Israel in the desert, becomes the guardian pillar of light and fire to our friends, and a cloud of overwhelming and impenetrable darkness to our enemies. [ Colton ]

When the dusk of evening had come on, and not a sound disturbed the sacred stillness of the place, - when the bright moon poured in her light on tomb and monument, on pillar, wall, and arch, and most of all (it seemed to them) upon her quiet grave, - in that calm time, when all outward things and inward thoughts teem with assurances of immortality, and worldly hopes and fears are humbled in the dust before them, - then, with tranquil and submissive hearts they turned away, and left the child with God. [ Dickens ]