Re: I Now Pronounce You Chuck (May) and Larry (Mike McDonnell)

distance between the certainly of what
is staked and the uncertainty of what will be gained, equals the finite good
which is certainly staked against the uncertain infinite. It is not so, as
every player stakes a certainty to gain an uncertainty, and yet he stakes a
finite certainty to gain a finite uncertainty, without transgressing against
reason. There is not an infinite distance between the certainty staked and
the uncertainty of the gain; that is untrue. In truth, there is an infinity
between the certainty of gain and the certainty of loss. But the uncertainty
of the gain is proportioned to the certainty of the stake according to the
proportion of the chances of gain and loss. Hence it comes that, if there
are as many risks on one side as on the other, the course is to play even;
and then the certainty of the stake is equal to the uncertainty of the gain,
so far is it from fact that there is an infinite distance between them. And
so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake
in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite
to gain. This is demonstrable; and if men are capable of any truths, this is
one.

"I confess it, I admit it. But, still, is there no means of seeing the faces
of the cards?" Yes, Scripture and the rest, etc. "Yes, but I have my hands
tied and my mouth closed; I am forced to wager, and am not free. I am not
released, and am so made that I cannot