Mercy

It is less noticed, but it is equally notable, that [they ...] do vaguely but honestly think it charitable to pardon a crime by saying it has never been committed [...]

[...] Not only are [positions like this] false, but they are not even kindly; they are not even white lies or well-meaning deceptions.  You cannot show mercy to what is not there.You do not sympathise with a sick man at all, if you do not sympathise with the reality of his sickness. You do not sympathise with a sinner at all, if you do not sympathise with his sense of sin.

-January 4, 1913, Daily News