He held Baptist pastorates in Texas, and led non-sectarian and Universalist congregations in Illinois and Iowa.

During his four years at City Temple, he made trips throughout the British Isles and gained international fame[2] through sermons in which he urged understanding between England and the United States as a basis of world order and abiding peace.

In 1920, Newton returned to the United States and assumed the pulpit at the Church of the Divine Paternity, New York City, NY.

While there Newton served as an editor of the Christian Century, edited the Best Sermons of the Year series, and preached at colleges and universities across the United States.

From 1944 until his death, Newton reviewed religious books and wrote a Saturday sermon column for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.

Newton authored over 30 books, perhaps his most famous being The Builders: A Story and Study of Freemasonry, published in 1914, and translated into six different languages.

[3] The Builders has been called "an outstanding classic in Masonic literature offering the early history of Freemasonry.