Holden lived most of his life in Charles­town, Mass­a­chu­setts, near Bos­ton. Though a car­pen­ter and real es­tate deal­er in his pro­fess­ion­al life, he al­so or­gan­ized ma­ny mu­sic schools, and served as le­gis­lat­or and pas­tor. When George Wash­ing­ton vis­it­ed Bos­ton in 1789, Hold­en wrote the lyr­ics and score and trained the choir which sang the mu­sic that greeted Wash­ing­ton at the Old State House.

Holden co-wrote the Mass­a­chu­setts Com­pil­er of The­o­ret­ic­al Prin­ci­ples (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1795). Among his com­pil­a­tions are:

• Amer­i­can Har­mo­ny (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1792)
• Union Har­mo­ny or Un­i­ver­sal Col­lect­ion of Sac­red Mu­sic (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1793 & 1801)
• Worcester Coll­ect­ion (Wor­ces­ter, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1797-1803)
• Charlestown Coll­ect­ion (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: 1803)

• Hughes, p. 429
• Hustad, pp. 259-60
• Jones, p. 76
• Julian, p. 529
• Nutter, pp. 416, 459
• Randel, p. 388

1. All Those Who Seek a Throne of Grace
   • Those Who Seek the Throne of Grace
2. With Conscious Guilt, and Bleeding Heart
3. Within These Doors Assembled Now

1. Boundless Mercy
2. Corona­tion
3. Hopkinton