Herbert's "Superliminare" and the Tradition of Warning in Mystical Literature

Herbert's "Superliminare" and the Tradition of Warning in Mystical Literature by John P. Hermann Thou, whom the former precepts have Sprinkled and taught, how to behave Thy self in church; approach, and taste The churches mysticall repast. Avoid, Profanenesse; come not here: Nothing but holy, pure, and cleare, Or that which groneth to be so, May at his perill further go.' This brief poem, at the same time both invitatory and monitory, stands between "The Church-porch" and "The Church" in George Herbert's The Temple. Its title, "Superliminare ," is Latin for an inscription over the lintel of a doorway; the phrase "the former precepts" in the first line refers to the teachings contained in "The Church-porch," a long poem whose purpose in the overall architecture of The Temple is to awaken the moral sense of the reader. The first stanza presents a chastened invitation to a meal; the second is in marked contrast tonally, for the invitation is followed by a stern warning: those approaching the meal (symbolically the contemplation of God through an attentive reading of the poems in "The Church") in an improper state of spiritual preparedness are notified of imminent danger. The contrast between the two stanzas is startling, especially the stark exclusivity of the second, which makes use of a Christian device of introductory warning similar to the classical procul este profani. The importance of the procul este profani topos for an understanding of "Superliminare" was first pointed out by Arnold Davenport in 1952.2 Arguing that Herbert must have been aware of this classical precedent, Davenport pointed out that line five is a close translation of a phrase used at the beginnings of Roman rituals and, most importantly, in the 1 John P. Hermann Aeneid, when the Sybil addresses Aeneas and his men as they conclude the religious rituals which precede the journey to the underworld: "Be gone, O be gone, profane ones," the seeress cried, "and completely withdraw from the grove; and you, Aeneas, go forth on your way, whip your sword from its sheath; now you must have a stout heart, now you must have courage."3 Mary Ellen Rickey extended Davenport's discovery by drawing further parallels to the Greek Anthology, the Sonnets of William Alabaster, and the prefatory material to Joshua Sylvester 's translation of Du Bartas.4 But this tradition is not simply a classical one impinging upon the poetical and religious practice of seventeenth-century England, as Davenport and Rickey have argued.5 Herbert's warning, like the others mentioned by Rickey, is attached to a work of Christian contemplative poetry. Furthermore, the placement of the warning is significant: perhaps if such a warning were attached, in Virgil's voice, to the beginning of the Aeneid, or to the beginning of Book Vl of the Aeneid, we would see more clearly how Herbert's introductory warning differs from the line found in the Sybil's speech, for the astonishing claim would then be made, as in "Superliminare," that continued reading of the poetic work by the unfit will result in danger for the reader, not simply for one of the literary characters. It is misleading to consider Herbert's "Superliminare," as well as its seventeenth -century analogues, merely "adaptations of the procul este profani,"* since the procul este profani topos alone does not account for the claim that the reader of the literary work himself will face danger if he continues reading in a state of spiritual unpreparedness. For such a claim, we must turn to the tradition of introductory warning in Christian contemplative writings; familiarity with this tradition can help clarify the curious tonal variation in "Superliminare," and provide a vantage point from which to discuss several problems raised by this poem, which is so crucial to the interpretation of The HERBERT'S "SUPERLIMINARE" Temple. A brief survey of occurrences of this warning device in the works of Christian mysticism will demonstrate its major varieties and their relevance to "Superliminare." The prologue to The Cloud of Unknowing, written by an unknown English mystic of the fourteenth century, strongly emphasizes the unsuitability of the work for the vicious or merely foolish reader: I charge thee and...