The use and abuse of authors

I found this question from the 19th century Welsh preacher Richard Jones helpful with regard to the use of dead authors in living controversies. The use of written historical sources in support of contemporary causes begs some important questions about accuracy and integrity:

But who can ever speak so wisely and so accurately that some of their words, here and there, may not be used by a spirit of perversity and aberration to support error, whereas if the sentence or the reasoning as a whole were considered, the idea conveyed would be seen to be quite the reverse?