The certificate of the clerk of any county court of the entry or nonentry of any tract of land for taxation on the land books of any county wherein the land ought to have been charged or of the delinquency of any such land for the nonpayment of taxes charged thereon, and the amount of the taxes charged as delinquent, or such clerk's certificate of the sale of such land for the nonpayment of taxes, shall, in any suit in relation to such lands, be prima facie evidence of what is stated in such certificate: Provided, That it be filed with the papers of said suit and notice thereof given to the opposite party or his attorney at least twenty days before the first day of the term at which it is to be offered as evidence. When a certificate purports to be signed by any such clerk, it may be admitted as evidence without proof of his signature.