diff --git a/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/AsciidoctorInvoker.java b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/AsciidoctorInvoker.java
index ec5fc462..5e834a9b 100644
--- a/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/AsciidoctorInvoker.java
+++ b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/AsciidoctorInvoker.java
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ public int invoke(String... parameters) {
                                 + "' missing or cannot be read");
             }
 
+            MaxSeverityLogHandler maxSeverityLogHandler = new MaxSeverityLogHandler();
+            asciidoctor.registerLogHandler(maxSeverityLogHandler);
+
             Options options = asciidoctorCliOptions.parse();
 
             if (asciidoctorCliOptions.isRequire()) {
@@ -72,7 +75,7 @@ public int invoke(String... parameters) {
 
             convertInput(asciidoctor, options, inputFiles);
 
-            if (asciidoctorCliOptions.getFailureLevel().compareTo(asciidoctor.getMaxSeverity()) <= 0) {
+            if (asciidoctorCliOptions.getFailureLevel().compareTo(maxSeverityLogHandler.getMaxSeverity()) <= 0) {
                 return 1;
             }
 
diff --git a/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/MaxSeverityLogHandler.java b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/MaxSeverityLogHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5cfdd504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/cli/MaxSeverityLogHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package org.asciidoctor.jruby.cli;
+
+import org.asciidoctor.log.LogHandler;
+import org.asciidoctor.log.LogRecord;
+import org.asciidoctor.log.Severity;
+
+public class MaxSeverityLogHandler implements LogHandler {
+    private Severity maxSeverity = Severity.DEBUG;
+
+    @Override
+    public void log(LogRecord logRecord) {
+        if (this.maxSeverity.compareTo(logRecord.getSeverity()) < 0) {
+            this.maxSeverity = logRecord.getSeverity();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public Severity getMaxSeverity() {
+        return this.maxSeverity;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/internal/JRubyAsciidoctor.java b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/internal/JRubyAsciidoctor.java
index 4d561d17..ff85e1e2 100644
--- a/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/internal/JRubyAsciidoctor.java
+++ b/asciidoctorj-core/src/main/java/org/asciidoctor/jruby/internal/JRubyAsciidoctor.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.asciidoctor.jruby.syntaxhighlighter.internal.SyntaxHighlighterRegistryExecutor;
 import org.asciidoctor.log.LogHandler;
 import org.asciidoctor.log.LogRecord;
-import org.asciidoctor.log.Severity;
 import org.asciidoctor.syntaxhighlighter.SyntaxHighlighterRegistry;
 import org.jruby.*;
 import org.jruby.exceptions.RaiseException;
@@ -47,8 +46,6 @@ public class JRubyAsciidoctor implements AsciidoctorJRuby, LogHandler {
 
     private List<LogHandler> logHandlers = new ArrayList<>();
 
-    private Severity maxSeverity = Severity.DEBUG;
-
     public JRubyAsciidoctor() {
         this(createRubyRuntime(Collections.singletonMap(GEM_PATH, null), new ArrayList<>(), null));
         processRegistrations(this);
@@ -510,15 +507,8 @@ private RubyClass getExtensionGroupClass() {
 
     @Override
     public void log(LogRecord logRecord) {
-        if (this.maxSeverity.compareTo(logRecord.getSeverity()) < 0) {
-            this.maxSeverity = logRecord.getSeverity();
-        }
         for (LogHandler logHandler : logHandlers) {
             logHandler.log(logRecord);
         }
     }
-
-    public Severity getMaxSeverity() {
-        return this.maxSeverity;
-    }
 }