How can we justify the statement "God helps those who believe in themselves, with reference to "The Ballad of Father Gilligan?"

I would argue that the statement that we can actually
justify is "God helps those who believe in him."  The major characteristic of Father
Gilligan in this poem is not belief in himself, but rather a strong belief in and
dedication to God.

In the poem, God helps Father Gilligan
because Gilligan has worn himself out in God's service.  Gilligan does not show any real
belief in himself.  Instead, he believes strongly in doing God's work.  We can see this
quite clearly in the following stanza from the poem:

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"I have no rest, nor joy, nor
peace

For people die and
die";

And after cried he, "God
forgive!

My body spake, not
I!"

When Gilligan says this,
he is revealing a deep faith in God, not a belief in himself.  He then drops to his
knees in prayer but falls asleep.  This is when God helps him out by presumably sending
an angel that looked like him to the dying man.

From this,
you can see that God's help comes about not because Gilligan believes in himself, but
because Gilligan is dedicated to
God.