How long has a gold ring been given to 14° Masons?
Since at least 1783 when Henry Andrew Francken wrote one of his manuscript rituals of the Order of the Royal Secret, the 25-degree predecessor of the Scottish Rite. In its 14° the Thrice Potent Master present the candidate with a ring and says, “Receive this ring as a token of alliance, and that you have made a contract with virtue and the virtuous.” This “contract with virtue and the virtuous” brings to mind the motto inside the Scottish Rite’s 14° ring:
Virtus Junxit Mors Non Separabit (what virtue has joined, death cannot separate).
