Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

This is a remarkable passage; the Son of God has twice quoted it. The Pharisees reproached him for his intercourse with men of bad and abandoned life, and he said to them in the ninth chapter of Matthew, "Mercy, I desire and not sacrifice." He shows by this defence, that God is not worshipped by external ceremonies, but when men forgive and bear with one another and are not above measure rigid. Again when the Pharisees blamed the disciples for gathering ears of corn, Christ shows that those who make holiness to consist in ceremonies are foolish worshippers of God: and that they also blamed their brethren without a cause, and made a crime of what was not in itself sinful, and what could be easily defended by any wise and calm expounder. These two clauses ought to be read conjointly--that kindness pleases God--and that faith pleases God. Faith by itself cannot please God, since it cannot exist without love to our neighbour; and then, human kindness is not sufficient; for were any one to abstain from doing any injury and from hurting his brethren in any thing, he might still be a profane man, and a despiser of God; and certainly his kindness would be then of no avail to him. It is also worthy of being observed that he called faith, the knowledge of God.

--From Calvin’s devotionals and Prayers