The Books of Ecclesiastes and the Canticles have nothing that was not Solomon's,except it be the titles or inions.For The Words of the Preacher,the Son of David,King in Jerusalem,and The Song of Songs,which is Solomon's,seem to have been made for distinction's sake,then,when the books of Scripture were gathered into one body of the law;to the end that not the doctrine only,but the authors also might be extant.
Of the Prophets,the most ancient are Zephaniah,Jonas,Amos,Hosea,Isaiah,and Micaiah,who lived in the time of Amaziah and Azariah,otherwise Ozias,Kings of Judah.But the Book of Jonah is not properly a register of his prophecy;for that is contained in these few words,"Forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed";but a history or narration of his frowardness and disputing God's commandments;so that there is small probability he should be the author,seeing he is the subject of it.But the Book of Amos is his prophecy.
Jeremiah,Obadiah,Nahum,and Habakkuk prophesied in the time of Josiah.
Ezekiel,Daniel,Haggai,and Zechariah,in the Captivity.
When Joel and Malachi prophesied is not evident by their writings.
But considering the inions or titles of their books,it is manifest enough that the whole Scripture of the Old Testament was set forth,in the form we have it,after the return of the Jews from their Captivity in Babylon,and before the time of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus,that caused it to be translated into Greek by seventy men,which were sent him out of Judea for that purpose.And if the books of Apocrypha (which are recommended to us by the Church,though not for canonical,yet for profitable books for our instruction)may in this point be credited,the Scripture was set forth in the form we have it in by Esdras,as may appear by that which he himself saith,in the second book,chapter 14,verses 21,22,etc.,where,speaking to God,he saith thus,"Thy law is burnt;therefore no man knoweth the things which thou hast done,or the works that are to begin.But if I have found grace before thee,send down the holy spirit into me,and I shall write all that hath been done in the world,since the beginning,which were written in thy law,that men may find thy path,and that they which will live in the latter days,may live."And verse 45:"And it came to pass,when the forty days were fulfilled,that the Highest spake,saying,The first that thou hast written,publish openly,that the worthy and unworthy may read it;but keep the seventy last,that thou mayst deliver them only to such as be wise among the people."And thus much concerning the time of the writing of the books of the Old Testament.
The writers of the New Testament lived all in less than an age after Christ's ascension,and had all of them seen our Saviour,or been his Disciples,except St.Paul and St.Luke;and consequently whatsoever was written by them is as ancient as the time of the Apostles.But the time wherein the books of the New Testament were received and acknowledged by the Church to be of their writing is not altogether so ancient.